Healthy diet helps protect your kidney

Andrew Smyth, MD at National University of Ireland Galway and his colleagues analyzed questionnaires completed by 544,635 participants of the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study that assessed diet quality, as well as sodium and potassium intake.

A higher-quality diet, as measured using 3 different scoring systems for dietary qualities known to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, was associated with a 16 percent to 23 percent reduced risk of needing dialysis or dying from kidney problems.

Higher-quality diets included those high in fruits, vegetables, and unsaturated fats. The researchers also found that high sodium intake (average of 4.7g g/day) was linked with an increased risk of needing dialysis or dying from kidney problems, but no benefit was seen for low sodium intake (average 2.0 g/day) compared with moderate intake.

Individuals in villages that received the sodium reduction intervention had a 33 percent decreased likelihood of having albuminuria compared with individuals in the control villages.

Dr. Jardine said that the fundamental question now is whether dietary salt reduction would also protect against progressive kidney damage, and If it did, community dietary interventions would present a new method for improving kidney health with efficient uptake and relatively low cost, which would supplement current pharmaceutical-based approaches. The studies will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2014 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA.